Share

The Camp Where Chinese Citizens Pledge Allegiance to Communism

Participants swear an oath during a communist course in the mountains outside Jinggangshan, China as a picture of President Xi Jinping looks on.

Men and women wearing replica Red Army uniforms participate in a team-building course organized by the Revolutionary Tradition College outside Jinggangshan, China.

Camp attendees stop to take photos at a monument featuring a carving of Chinese communist leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De.

A man hits the ground during a fake attack while participating in a restaging of part of the Long March in Jinggangshan, China.

Participants march during a communist team-building course organized by the Revolutionary Tradition College.

Team members race a bamboo raft across a lake near Jinggangshan, China.

Teams race each other across a lake outside Jinggangshan during a course that lets participants relive the Long March.

Each of the camp's three teams got its own flag.

Men and women stand in formation.

Participants rest in the grass after lunch.

Camp-goers wear replicas of Red Army uniforms.

A portrait of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong hangs in a restaurant near the Red Culture Training Center in the mountains outside Jinggangshan, China.

Participants help distribute lunch at a camp organized by the Revolutionary Tradition College in the mountains outside Jinggangshan, China.

A man awaits lunch during a camp organized by the Revolutionary Tradition College.

During a break, a participant enjoys the scenery of the Jinggangshan mountains.

A 6,000-mile hike is an arduous undertaking. Add starvation, disease, and unceasing attacks from an enemy force, and you’d be lucky to make it alive. Few who went on the Long March—the infamous journey communist forces made across China in 1934—did. Yet the Chinese tourists reenacting it in Thomas Peter’s bizarre photos seem to be having a blast.

They dodge enemy "fire," strap “wounded” comrades to makeshift stretchers, and race bamboo rafts across treacherous waters with all the gusto of kids playing Capture the Flag. It's part of a three-day camp organized by the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Tradition College in the lush mountains of Jinggangshan, near where the Long March first began. "People clearly enjoyed it," Peter says. "The mood was light and relaxed."

Peter caught the first day of a camp this past September on assignment with Reuters. It drew 50-odd bank tellers, clothing company employees, and other workers from all over China. On arrival, they changed into replicas of Red Army uniforms and divided into three teams, each with its own regiment number and flag. The day included a passionate talk on the history of early communist revolutionaries, a pledge of allegiance to the communist party, and, of course, a mini-reenactment of the Long March, with stops for photos along the way. "There was also a lot of standing in formation going on and actually very little marching," Peter says.

Peter's images, shot with a Canon 5D Mark III, capture the nostalgic spirit of the reenactment. It's all about reminding today's Chinese citizens of the sacrifices previous generations have made—so they can, you know, pretend-dodge bullets today.